Authors: Lacey Black
After throwing open the curtain, I grab a towel from the rack and wrap it around her trembling body. She’s shivering from head to toe, teeth chattering so loud that I’m afraid Zach can hear them in the living room.
I gently lower her down to the toilet lid again and grab a second towel for myself. I really don’t want to carry her into her room with her son out there while we’re both wearing nothing but a towel. So, I quickly step into my pants and grab my undershirt. I leave my boxers and my top on the floor by the hamper to deal with later.
Once I’m covered and slide my glasses back on my face, I try to stand her up, but her legs aren’t functional any longer, so I pick her up like she weighs nothing. Hell, she practically doesn’t weigh anything. Carmen tucks her head against my chest under my chin and exhales. I feel her hot breath against me and it practically makes me go out of my ever-loving mind. I want to throw her over my shoulder and grunt. I’ve never been the Neanderthal type, but fuck if she doesn’t bring it out of me.
I maneuver around in the small bathroom until I’m able to open the door one-handed. I make sure that she’s completely covered as I step out into the hallway. Zach looks over, concern evident on his face.
“She’s okay, buddy. She’s just very tired and weak,” I tell him as I step across the hall and into her room.
Closing the door behind me, I set her down on her bed. Instead of placing her under the covers, I decide to change her sheets quickly. Stepping back out into the hallway, I find a second set of sheets in the little linen closet at the end of the hallway. Since Carmen is passed out on half the bed, I have to remove the sheets and get the new ones in place on the half she’s not occupying.
As I pull her hot body into my arms again to move her to the other side of the bed, I can’t help but revel in the feel of her against me. She feels so damn right. As if the missing piece of my soul just clicked into place.
I hold her tight in my arms as the realization slams into me with the force of a thousand bricks. I have no clue if she was serious or delirious from the fever when she told me she loved me, but I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am one-hundred percent in love with her. I have no clue when it happened, but I am so fucking in love with her that she steals my breath away with her mere presence. Her laughter, her smile, the way she snuggles up against me…God, I’m so far in love with her that I can’t even recall what my life was like before her.
Nothing. That’s what my life was like before her. Before Carmen? I had no life. I merely existed.
This? This is heaven. She has quickly become my life. I love her so completely with everything I have. And Zach? The chocolate fudge icing on the fucking chocolate cake.
I settle her down on top of the clean sheets and gently stroke her forehead and the sides of her face. She’s still hot, but doesn’t appear as miserable as before. I make quick work at finishing the bedding, throw a lightweight t-shirt over the top of her, and grab the hairbrush I find on the dresser. If having Avery as a little sister has taught me anything, it’s that women are crazy about their hair. And I don’t want Carmen going to sleep with wet, tangled hair. So, I set out and do something I’ve never done before outside of Brooklyn, and that’s brush a woman’s hair. It’s wet and full of tangles, but I gently hold small groups of silky, wet strands and carefully pick through the knots.
When her hair is brushed through as best I can, I head back out to check on Zach. He’s right where I left him – playing video games in the living room.
“How is she?” he asks tentatively.
“She’s gonna be just fine. If it’s okay with you, I’m going to hang around for a while and keep an eye on her. We gotta be careful that her fever doesn’t spike anymore, okay?”
“Okay,” Zach says will a bit of excitement. “Can we play my basketball game? And maybe order a pizza?”
“Sure. When do you go to your dad’s?” I ask.
“Tomorrow around three. He’s supposed to pick me up when he’s done with a lunch meeting. Then we’re gonna go have burgers and fries and watch the ball drop on TV at home.” I can tell Zach is excited about the prospect of spending some one on one time with his father.
“Sounds like fun. When do you come back to your mom’s house?”
“Sunday night. Will Mom be better by then?”
“I’m sure she will. I have to work on Friday the second and then over the weekend, but I’ll be around to check on her.”
“Thanks, Will,” he says as he hands me a controller for the gaming system. It appears that I’m in for a long few days.
*****
At three-thirty, there’s a hard knock on the door. Zach practically sprints from the kitchen table to the front door. About a half hour ago, I made him sit down and have a snack with me just to get him away from the front window. He’d been pacing and checking the driveway for the better part of twenty minutes.
“Dad!” Zach hollers as he throws open the door.
I watch from the kitchen entryway as Zach’s father walks in the house. I finally get my first glimpse at the man who was once married to Carmen. He’s actually shorter than I would have thought. Though he’s probably a smidgen taller than Carmen, he’s a couple of inches shorter than me. He carries himself as if he demands respect everywhere he goes. He comes off arrogant and self-important just by the way he stands, but that’s probably the decade or so that he’s put in as a high profile lawyer. He sports a very stylish cut of his black hair – probably a cut he gets regularly at a salon – and has dark eyes that look almost black.
“Who’s this?” Nick asks Zach from his position by the door.
“This is Will,” Zach says with excitement. “He’s Mom’s friend that got me the ball and tickets to see the Belters that I told you about,” Zach says with pride.
“Will Stevens,” I say, stepping from the doorway of the kitchen and extending my hand towards Nick.
He gives me the once-over before placing his hand firmly in my own. “Nick Raymond,” he says. And as if to reiterate his position in the family, he adds, “Zach’s father.”
Okay, so this is how this is gonna go. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to a pissing match with Nick, but apparently he’s all about pointing out his status and making sure I’m in my place…which is behind him somewhere.
“A friend of Carmen’s?” he asks with the raise of an eyebrow. You can practically hear the open-ended question he left hanging between us.
“Yep. I work with her,” I respond, not giving him any more information.
“I’m ready to go, Dad,” Zach says as he throws on his coat.
“Alright, let’s go then,” he responds. Nick gives me one last glance over his shoulder as he steers his son out the door.
But, before they can get completely outside, Zach turns around and runs back into the living room. “Thank you so much for helping with Mom,” he says with a smile.
I return the hug and give him a quick smile. “No problem, buddy. Have a great time with your dad.”
“Thanks, Will!” he exclaims as he runs out the door, closing it securely behind him.
The entire house is enveloped in quiet. It’s eerie how fast a place can go from full of life to lifeless in a matter of moments. Is this what Carmen goes through on the weekends Zach is off with his father?
I head back to Carmen’s room to check on her. I find her sleeping again in the same place I left her almost two hours ago. I ended up sleeping on the couch last night. I couldn’t leave Zach there by himself all night, taking care of his mom to make sure she received her medicine every couple of hours. Of course, I didn’t want to leave him to take care of himself or prepare his own meals either. Then, there’s the fact that something could have happened to Carmen and he would have been there alone to deal with it. No, it was much better that I stayed with them last night.
Zach and I ordered a pizza for supper and played some video games. We ultimately ended the night by watching some gory zombie apocalypse show on television before I sent him off to bed – his pick, not mine.
I had checked on Carmen off and on all day, but as soon as Zach was off with his dad, I took the opportunity to snuggle in next to her. She was still hot, but the fever was holding steady around 101 degrees.
I pull the comforter down and snuggle up against her warm body. I slept in my boxers and undershirt last night and threw my uniform in the washer this morning so I had something clean to wear. But the fact remains that I wasn’t ready to wear my same underwear two days in a row, so I’m currently commando underneath my work pants.
Carmen exhales against me as she burrows in as close as humanly possible. If she was any closer, we’d be sharing the same skin. I gently stroke her hair away from her forehead, watching her breathe in and out. Before I know it, I’m lulled to sleep by her steady heartbeat and warm breath.
I could fall asleep like this every night
, I think as I slowly drift off to sleep.
*****
I’m startled awake and notice its dark outside. How long was I out? I lift my head up to look over at Carmen’s alarm clock, but my eyes are diverted to the brown eyes looking back at me.
“You’re awake,” I whisper with a smile.
“Why are you in bed with me?” she asks with confusion written all over her face.
“You’ve been sick, honey. You’ve had a very high fever since sometime Monday night,” I whisper.
“What day is it?”
“New Years Eve,” I confirm.
“Wednesday?” she says in a panic. “Zach!” she adds and tries to pull out of my embrace.
“Zach is with his dad, Carmen. He called the hospital yesterday and said you were too sick to go to work, so as soon as I got off, I came over. Zach and I have been taking care of you,” I add, pulling her back into my arms.
“You have?”
“Yeah. It took a while to get your fever down, but we eventually got it. We’re both covered in so much sweat that I’m assuming it broke while we were napping.”
“How did you get it down,” she whispers, licking her dry, cracked lips.
I quickly sit up and grab the bottle of water on the nightstand. As I offer it to her, I say, “We took a shower.”
The bottle stops halfway up to her parched lips. “
We
took a shower? Together? With Zach here?”
“Yeah, he wasn’t exactly offering to jump in there with you, so I volunteered. I wouldn’t have offered if it wasn’t necessary,” I say.
“I know, but I just don’t want Zach to think something was going on.”
“He knew it was primarily for health reasons. Though the way you were stroking my cock, it was damn hard not to take advantage of you in the shower; medical reasons be damned,” I add with a coy smile.
“I did what?” she asks, mortified.
“You just confessed how much you loved my dick,” I say with a laugh, pushing the brown locks of her hair away from her ears.
“Oh, god. What else did I confess?” she asks, eyes tightly squeezed shut.
“Well, there was the part about me being hotter than Luke Bryan and the best sex you’ve ever had.” I decided to go for comedic relief right now since I’m not prepared to talk about her other confession. What if it wasn’t true and I brought it up? I don’t want to make her feel bad. Just because I’m over the top crazy in love with the woman doesn’t mean she feels the same way now that she’s coherent again.
Carmen’s hands go to her face. “I said that?” she asks, exasperated.
I can’t help but laugh at her embarrassment. “Are you hungry?”
“Not really, but I feel like I could drink a gallon of water,” she says, her faint pink blush amazingly evident over her already flushed face.
“Finish that glass and then I’ll run and fill it up again.”
I watch as she greedily chugs half a glass of water. Quickly, I head into the kitchen and refill the glass. “So, I don’t think your ex-husband likes me much,” I say as I step back into her bedroom. She’s sitting up in bed and at least has a little color in her face again.
“Oh, God. You met Nick?”
“Yeah, he came inside the house to get Zach. Zach introduced me, and Nick gave me the stink-eye the entire time.”
“I can only imagine. I hope he was nice to you.”
“He was fine, Carmen.”
“So, it’s Wednesday?” she asks in between gulps of water.
“Yeah, New Year’s Eve.”
“We had plans for tonight,” she mumbles as she sets her glass back down on the nightstand before snuggling back against my side.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I tell her.
And so we settled in for a little talking and a lot of snuggling. Around seven, we get up and settled onto the couch to watch some TV. I heat up, for Carmen, some of the homemade chicken noodle soup that my mom whipped up and a couple of ham and cheese sandwiches for myself. She tentatively sips the broth from the bowl, omitting the noodles, vegetables, and little chicken chunks. I try not to inhale my sandwiches in front of her, but I haven’t eaten since Zach and I made grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch.
“Where did you get this soup?” she asks as she finally starts to pick at a few small noodles.
“My mom dropped it off,” I tell her nonchalantly.
“Your mom?” she asks, spoon stopped halfway between the bowl and her perfect little mouth. The mouth that I’ve watched suck tentatively at first, then greedily when the broth stayed down.
“Yeah, I called my mom to see if she had anything in the freezer. She makes soups all the time and then freezes them in those plastic containers.”
“So, she just ran some over when you called her?” she asks flabbergasted.
“Yeah, it’s just what my mom does. If she heard you were sick, and I didn’t call her to bring you soup, she’d kick my ass all the way to Sunday.”
“Wow, that’s really sweet of her. And you. Thank you for the soup,” she says with a shy smile.
At quarter after nine, Carmen yawns and stretches. “I think I’m going to take a quick shower. I feel kinda gross,” she says, pulling at the t-shirt I had dressed her in the night before. “But I might need some assistance. You know, in case I get a little weak,” she adds with a wink.